Synthetic biology approaches to study and exploit RNA regulation
Event details
| Date | 13.04.2021 |
| Hour | 16:15 › 17:15 |
| Speaker | Prof Bryan Dickinson earned his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley for work performed with Professor Christopher Chang. His graduate work focused on the synthesis and application of small molecule fluorescent probes for the detection of hydrogen peroxide in living systems. Then, as a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial postdoctoral fellow with Professor David Liu at Harvard University, he developed new methods to rapidly evolve proteins to perform novel functions. Bryan joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in the Department of Chemistry in the Summer of 2014 and is a member of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. The Dickinson Group employs synthetic organic chemistry, molecular evolution, and protein design to develop molecular technologies to study chemistry in living systems. The group's current primary research interests include: 1) how lipid modifications on proteins are controlled and regulate cell signaling, 2) developing new evolution technologies to reprogram and control biomolecular interactions, and 3) engineering systems to understand and exploit epitranscriptomic, RNA regulation. The motivating principle of the Dickinson Group is that our ability as chemists to create functional molecules through both rational and evolutionary approaches will lead to new breakthroughs in biology and biotechnology. |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
RNA transcribed from the genome in the nucleus bears little resemblance to the RNA polymer it will ultimately become in the cytoplasm where it is translated into protein. Well-known processes such as capping, splicing and polyadenylation, as well as the recently discovered and ever-expanding list of diverse chemical modifications and editing, significantly alter the properties and fates of a given RNA during the course of its lifetime.
These alterations regulate critical aspects of RNA function such as stability, transport, protein binding, and translation. Especially in mammalian systems, these post-transcriptional gene expression regulatory processes are often a key determinant of genetic information flow. Moreover, from an engineering and therapeutic perspective these RNA regulatory processes represent new ways to control or retune gene expression at the RNA level, if they can be harnessed.
I will present several technologies our group has developed to measure the chemical composition and localization of RNAs, and to measure and control protein-RNA interactions with an eye toward therapeutic development.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof Yimon Aye
Contact
- Aye Yimon <[email protected]>